Wednesday, December 24, 2014

“I got a semester back.” I
gathered the paused words she managed to speak in between in sobs. Failing is
definitely not great news. Hiding a little disappointment in me and after a
moment of preparation of speech in mind, I repeated “It may not be true. Did
you confirm it? It’s ok. Where are you? Office…Just don’t cry in the office.” I
couldn’t imagine colleagues staring at a crying intern in the office.

She asked me to check
online on her college website. A worst fear was confirmed when her roll no. was
punched in the command box. She failed in three modules out of six with a verdict
of fail written in capital letter. I punched another roll no. randomly and when
screen displayed result.

“Your friend Miss X failed
in all modules and I am glad that you managed to pass in three papers.” I could
hear a little laugh mixed with sob.

“Apa will scold me.” I heard
a terror in her voice.

“Don’t worry. I will tell
him and I am sure he will understand. “ I told her unsure of myself.

Every child is scared of
revealing a result to parents especially a failure, we were not exception. The
fact that we siblings have not failed before aggravate the situation. Though
they may not have mentioned, I know that parents have great expectation from us

“Do you want to tell me
now?” I asked.

“No!” she screamed.

“Ok. I will tell him after
I get my results. I am also scared but I think I will manage to pass with one
or two reassessments.”

“Ok.” I heard a sob again.

“It’s ok dear. It’s not a
big deal. One of my friends failed twice.” I made a blunt attempt to make her feel
good by telling that she is not a first to get a semester back.

Four days passed since her
results were out and I still haven’t talked with parents. My results weren’t
out. I was restlessly apprehensive and a dream of flying downwards was
escalating a worst fear in me.

I was in a shower when Sonam Choden banged a door, “Tshering result out dewa, we are the only two with reassessment
(RA) in DCS- II.”

“What DCS-II, only two of
us?” I shouted back.

“Yes, only two of us. I
don’t feel like studying in vacation.” She said.

My heart sank with
disappointment as I didn’t expect to get RA in DCS-II. I didn’t perform that well
in ECT, so I asked “Me neither. I didn’t bring any books. Better report early
to the college and study. What about ECT?”

“All passed in ECT.”

“OK. I will rinse my hair
and come out soon.”

“Tshering……” Sonam
screeched.

“What?” in an irritated
tone I answered.

“We passed without any RA.”
She cheered.

“Wait ok. I will kill you.”
I meant it when I said.

The fact I passed clean didn’t
wash away the tension building inside. I had a task to tell the news of sister’s
result.

After rehearsing for
several times, I dialed apa’s number and conversed “Apa…how are you? I am fine.
Yes, I am staying with friends in Chukha. 6 weeks, I will come home after that.
Where are you? What are you doing at school? Today is Sunday. Oh..at farewell
party of a teacher. Ok…result is out and I passed without any RA. Yaya….call me
back when you are home. I have something to tell you. Yaya.” I couldn’t tell
then as I didn’t want to ruin his mood.

I called ama and told
about my results. She asked about sister, after few seconds of silence I told
her “Ama…Sonam failed this semester.”

“Is Daza fine? “Was ama’s
first question. There was neither scolding nor disappointment in her voice but
a concerned about the well being of a sister.

I couldn’t hide from ama
that little sister was distracted, worried and scared. Then only, mother
figured out why Sonam was avoiding call from her. She asked me to console and
tell her not to worry. Mother will be always mother, the well being of the
children always come first. I was fool to make ama worry unnecessarily; I could
have skipped crying in the office part.

I had to explain the wheel
of academic of RUB to her.

“So, Sonam will not go
college for next six months. I will talk with Apa. Tell Daza not to worry much
and eat well. “ Ama asked.

When I talked with sister
yesterday, she was laughing that Apa told her that he failed when he was in
class four but also he never gave up. I love the way how Apa wittily conveyed a
message to Sonam. Hopefully, Sonam seemed to understand what Apa meant. Apa has
always been like that always joking and making us laugh. Ama is bit serious and
reserved. We were worried with the false presumptions that they will scold us
for failure. They never did, they always support us.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

I was absentmindedly
copying the highway engineering home assignment to compensate the class I have
missed deliberately, no doubt I love missing few occasionally.Thank god! As irrigation ma’am was yet to
come and I had enough time to complete the assigned homework. Next period was
highway engineering. We never know the mood swings of the tutor; when we write
and complete notes in a clean sheet they never check and if we leave it
unattended in a presumption that they never check, they bombard us by checking
every notes. It affects our CA and we land up hanging like a Tarzan in end
semester exam. I ignored the pain on my forefinger due to pressure it bore for
past 45 minutes.

“Girls usually marry
first.” I heard Dorji talking behind me. Dorji was a most talkative guy of our
class. He always jokes around and smiles a lot. He was a restless who always
had time to tease friends with his typical hypocritical talks. Today, his
target was Dechen, a complete opposite girl who rarely talks, a tongue-tied who
never smiles. Nobody dares to mess with her, she is known for her
temperamental. Dorji was digging his own grave. I silently wished him luck.

“What a cliché.” I
was surprised when Dechen replied. He surely
knows how to provoke people.

“Haha…you will marry
first and will have bundle of kids by the time I marry.” Dorji teased her.

“Hypocrite, you will
be the one who will marry a first girl you encounter right after graduation.
Don’t fool around.” Dechen retorted.

“It doesn’t matter
with me. You should marry in your 20s; otherwise you will marry either a
widower or divorcee with three kids readymade.” He was irritating not only
Dechen but also passive me with his blunt statement.

“What an attitude!
Pig, male chauvinist.” I muttered.

“Don’t worry about
me. I can stand on my own feet. I don’t need a man.” I heard anger in Dechen’d
voice.

“Who said you will
stand on husband’s feet after marrying? I assure you, you will stand on your
feet only. Are you sure you don’t need a man in your life? Planning to be
spinster? Hope you are not lesbian, are you?” Dorji winked at her. I expected
Dechen to slap him but was surprised when she didn’t. He was irritating guy who
sometimes know how to be funny. I silently laughed listening to their
conversation while completing the homework.

“Why do you care? I will
rather be spinster or lesbian than with kind of a man of your attitude. Sick!”
Dechen surely didn’t find it funny. She was overreacting little, I guessed.

“I don’t care at all.
I was just saying that girls marry first. And there is no harm in it. Is there?
“He continued.

“If girls marry
first, whom do they marry with, a pig? You are saying boys marry later. I am
sure there should be a boy and a girl to get married.” I liked her sense of
humor.

“Haha….you haven’t
understood my point. See, after completing studies or in between, girls are
usually the one who marries first compared to boys of same batch. It is a
fact.” I didn’t think Dechen didn’t understand his point earlier; she was
deliberately twisting the points.

“You want to bet?”
Dechen challenged. I completed copying notes and faced them to listen along
with the couple of friends who were already engrossed with an entertainment
they provided.

“Who, with you? I
don’t want to. I will win without any doubt. ” Dorji lazily declared.

“Are you afraid or
you are already having a wife and kids at home?” Dechen wasn’t a person we
thought, not at least tongue-tied though temperamental part was partly true.

“Ok. The one who
marry first will have to pay a lakh to other.” Dorji laughingly said.

“Ok, keep your
words.” Dechen said fumingly.

“Yes, your highness.”
He mocked a respect and bowed to her triggering laughter from us.

“Yes, class. Any
special discussion you wish to share with me?” Irrigation Ma’am arrived wearing
a lovely dress glowing with a beautiful smile. Chair dragged, table moved and
students positioned to get ready for the class.

After
completing three years of services in DOR in Phuntsholing and two years of M.E.
in Transportation Engineering from Thailand, I was placed at head office at
Thimphu. I was busy shopping around when I accidentally bumped with a person.